Continuing with the commentary on The Union Budget 2014 from my last blog, I would like to bring a major proposal that was announced to your attention. I have made it fairly clear that this year’s budget announcements are the most ambitious and progressive of late.
The most exciting of all is the government’s plan to build 100 smart cities throughout India. Instead of merely proposing, the government has gone a step further by allotting a startling package of Rs 7060 Crore for this groundbreaking project.
The idea is this. In order to cope with the increasing urbanization, the only way is to build interconnected and highly developed locations, not just the ones surrounding metropolitan cities, rather, to establish new ones. The smart cities will have centralized traffic controls, regulated gas, water and electricity supplies, automated garbage and sewage management, pollution free public transport, etc.
Even though the idea is not unique, considering that works to convert major European and North American cities have already begun, India is probably the first developing nation that has taken the giant leap ahead of others.
With the population showing no signs of slowing down and is set to knock China off into becoming the most populated country in the world, India of all countries needs to take radical measures to propagate infrastructural development.
It is a given that promises made by governments are always arbitrary, but it still a promise that has sent waves of hope and has appealed to the extensive imagination of people. If at all this plan ever see the light of day, it will certainly be regarded as a spectacular achievement not just by the government but also by the country as a whole. And like always, Firm Foundation is ready to do its part.